The Anatomy of Melancholy

In Burton. In the reported account of the soul’s survival, the body decays into prime matter before the soul vanishes. Being then appears among the objects of understanding. In the controversy over potable gold, non ens becomes a dismissive denial that the promised substance has any reality.

The places. The decayed body is said to resolve into prime matter. (p. 27; DJR-026-16.) Being is included among the objects of understanding. (p. 28; DJR-026-26.) Non ens dismisses the alchemical promise as unreal. (p. 371; DJR-100-38.)

In this edition. “materia prima” → “prime matter” (DJR-026-16); “Ens” → “being” (DJR-026-26); “a non Ens” → “a nonentity” (DJR-100-38). The contextual equivalents keep first matter, being in general and nonexistence separate. Matter is a heading for the group, not a replacement for every Latin term.

See also. Soul; Form; Generation and corruption; Essence and quintessence; Simple.

Meat

Source forms: meats; meat

The word. Meat and meats can mean food of any kind, rather than only animal flesh. Both selected passages use this broader sense.

In Burton. Food supplies the first example of pleasures that become tiresome through repetition; manna makes the breadth of meats clear. In the account of severe melancholy, the biblical loathing of all meat expresses the sufferer’s inability to eat.

The places. Food introduces the comparison with tiresome repetition in other pleasures. (p. 152; DJR-052-03.) All meat occurs in the scriptural description of distress. (p. 214; DJR-065-17.)

In this edition. “meats” → “food” (DJR-052-03); “all meat” → “all food” (DJR-065-17). Food prevents a restriction to flesh that neither passage requires. The first example concerns satiety, the second a loss of appetite amid suffering.

See also. Diet and regimen; Privy; Excrements.

Mediocrity

Source forms: mediocrity

The word. Mediocrity means a middle state or condition here. It does not criticize inferior achievement.

In Burton. The speaker longs for prosperity in adversity and fears adversity in prosperity. The question asks whether any middle condition can escape trial. Burton’s following pairs attach a burden to each apparent good.

The places. The question seeks a middle condition free from trial. (p. 107; DJR-042-15.)

In this edition. “What mediocrity may be found” → “What middle state can be found” (DJR-042-15). Middle state preserves the question’s position between prosperity and adversity. No judgment about mediocre talent is implied.

See also. Happiness and fortune; Indifferent.

Melancholy

Source forms: atra bilis; melancholizing; melancholize; adventitious melancholy; Asininam melancholiam; melancholicus ad octo

The word. Melancholy can name black bile, a bodily temperament, an illness, or a disposition and experience associated with it. Its range includes the figurative and expressive verbs melancholize and melancholizing. A single present-day diagnosis cannot replace all these uses.

In Burton. Democritus seeks the bodily seat of black bile, while Burton claims experiential authority through melancholizing. Solitary fantasy initially offers delight. The medical discussion distinguishes acquired melancholy and varieties attributed to different humours; the extravagant series of degrees and ratios emphasizes variation rather than a workable numerical scale. The definition and source index explicitly acknowledge different senses of the name.